Live better and longer with the Fitness Show, hosted by fitness expert, author, and TV personality Fitz Kohler. She'll tell you why diets are dumb, supplements are snake oil, and the truth about how you can earn a lean, hard, pain-free, and athletic body. Now for our favorite bossy blonde, Fitz Kohler. Well, hi, team. I'm Fitz Kohler. your very proud fitness pro race announcer and podcaster from Fitsness.com. And welcome to the Fitsness show.
Folks, you may not have been paying attention, but I have officially hit 200 episodes. Yay. Go ahead and start clapping. I can hear you. That's right. I've hit 200 episodes. Now, truth be told, I've already passed that 200 episode mark. Mark, this is probably episode, I think, 202 or 203, if you are paying very close attention. But I thought it was worthy of celebrating because this has been a really special part of my career because it allows me to connect with you.
And if you know anything about me, which I think many of you do, is I'm desperate for connection. I'm desperate to reach as many people as possible to help you live better and longer. and this Fitsness Show podcast has really allowed me to do that. I launched it July 6th of 2016. Now, you may be saying, Fits, only 200 episodes? Well, I was going every year for a while, and then I had the big cancer. That's right. The cancer came knocking on my door, and it knocked me on my can.
And really, I worked so hard. I kept traveling and doing all the things that I did that when I came back home, it was really, I just had only had energy to desperately try to catch up and feel better and recover. And I didn't want to talk about myself. I just didn't want to talk about myself. So the podcast had been going very, very well and had a fantastic audience. And then when I let it slide and do I look back with regret and think, gosh, I wish I wouldn't have let it go. I do.
But I also look back at what I was dealing with and think, I don't know how I would have done things any other way. I just... I just don't know how. So I'm not going to second guess myself on that. What I'm going to do today is celebrate 200 freaking episodes of this podcast. It's interesting. Worldwide, I think the great majority of people who try to start a podcast stop by their 10th episode. They give up, they give in, and they move on to something else. And so 200 makes me very proud.
Not only that, but the Fitzness show has just moved into the top 3% of all podcasts worldwide, which was very exciting. So there's a podcast ranking source, listen notes. And yeah, I'm in the top three worldwide. So hooray, hooray for the Fitzness show.
And thank you so much for listening. The only reason I do this is so I can get inside your ears, both of them, and convince you, convince you to take your health seriously and your life seriously and go have some freaking fun and see wonderful things and meet wonderful people and get rid of the cranky people, et cetera, et cetera.
So it excites me. And I love you so much. And one of the great thrills of this show has been how many of you are now more comfortable coming up and introducing yourself to me when I show up in your town to announce a race or to do a keynote. And when you come up and say, I listen to your show, it just, I make, it makes me feel like we go way back and we're best friends already. And now I just have to do the work on hearing more about you. So we're on equal, equal terms, right?
You know, plenty about me, but I love getting to know about you. And again, it just, I feel really proud. So I have gone back and forth on what will I do for my 200th episode celebration? Should I have a special guest or should I do a Q&A or what should be done? And should I rehash all my favorite episodes? No, I decided that we're going to talk about the thing I like to talk about, which is you doing better and being better. And, you know, over the years, we've had so many topics on this show.
Of course, exercise, nutrition, quality sleep, stress management are the number one topics that I harp on. Let's be real. I harp on them because I want to drill them into your thick, thick skulls. So many of you, I know you have big bones. Oh my gosh, I've got a show coming up for you. And we are going to talk about bones and bone density and weight loss. And you're going to want to hear all these fascinating facts. Cause I just did this crazy body scan and you're going to want to hear all about
it, but that's going to be a future episode. But, I know in the past we've talked about all these health, nutrition, exercise, lots of running topics, right? So I have a lot of running listeners because I work in the running industry, right? But we've had celebrities on the show, a whole bunch of success stories, people talking about losing over 100 pounds, quite a few people talking about their over 100-pound weight loss.
Tracy Garapigali, she talked about cutting off her right leg because she wanted to run. That's right. That was an interesting show. She said, I wanted to run, so I chopped off one of my legs. That's fantastic. I've had surgeons on, cardiologists on, urologists on, all sorts of doctors, oncologists, people that know more about particular things than I do. And boy, has their insight been fascinating.
And we've talked to people who have had weight loss surgery, folks who have had the skin removal surgery post-weight loss. The Wiggles have been on my show. We've had other celebrities. We've definitely had a bunch of athletic superstars. Coach Steve Spurrier from the Gators. We've had Meb Kofleski, Catherine Switzer. I mean, a whole bunch. I won't continue on that road. Race directors. My races have been featured, the pre and post shows.
And then, of course, the one and only Ginger Kohler. That's right, my daughter. And we have recorded some very fun, funny, and fascinating episodes on sex and dating and relationships. And one of the things I really love most about those episodes is how many of you reach out and say, oh my gosh, I can't believe you can talk about that stuff with your daughter. And yeah, I'm really grateful I can talk about that stuff with my daughter.
I had definitely a much more conservative relationship with my parents growing up, but. I, Ginger and I, we connect really well and I'm still a parent, but we have, we have small boundaries and that allows us to talk about things like sex and relationships and dating on a public scale, which is, is pretty fun. So I hope if you've only listened to three of my episodes, you'll go back and listen to the other 197 plus. If you've listened to most, go listen to the first half.
They're still there. You can still find them on Spotify and Apple Music and Podbean has 100% of them. In fact, the other streaming services only will reveal 200. So I think the first five are no longer available on Apple. But anyways, go listen to more because there's some really good topics and there's some very funny stories. And there's quite a few funny stories, including diarrhea and stomach issues. And who doesn't like to talk about diarrhea, right?
It's just one of those great things that, I don't know, you just got to have on your show sometimes. And since we've started, my life has changed in a variety of ways, although I feel like exactly the same person I was eight years ago when I started the show. My guiding force, it's all the same, right? I just still am that girl who wants to help you live better and longer, making fitness understandable, attainable, and fun. But yeah, I've changed. I've been.
I've been around the world. I've been around this country. I've been to so many zoos. I've run a bunch of races. I've run the Boston Marathon. I've had cancer. I've beaten cancer. I've written three books for cancer patients and cancer crushers, aka survivors. And yeah, I don't know. I just feel, I still feel like me. I'm eight years older, but I don't feel it. I just feel grateful to be in your lives. So today, let's talk about the most important things for you to live better
and longer. And I'm going to run through them quick. Again, I know you've been listening, but please humor me. Let me reinforce the things. Maybe you already know. If my show is new to you, great. You're in for some quality information. But yeah, let's go through it. So the first rule of becoming who you want to be is know who you are and know who you want to be. And very much like your GPS, if you tell your GPS where you're going, it can give you clear instructions.
But if you don't know where you're going, it's really hard to figure out how to get there. And so decide right now, you know, A, get naked. Look at yourself. Get on the scale. Naked. All of those things, those are things you did, right? Besides your height and maybe the shape of your face, looking at your body, you did that. Get on the scale. You did that. And if you're excited about what you see and what the scale tells you and what your measurements say, then great.
Congratulations. You did that. But if you're unhappy with any of those statistics or what you see or the way you feel or the way your body performs. Know that you have full control to change those things. You can do better in all categories of fitness. You can look better, feel better, perform better. Your body can be stronger, more flexible. You can have better balance and better stamina. All of that is possible. You just have to choose it. And then we get into the planning part.
So think about it. And if you've already been through this with me, fine. But reassess yourself today. Do another assessment, right? Look at yourself. Do a full body scan with your own eyes and the tools of measurement you have available to you. And then write down where you are. Write down, you know, go to your lab work. Find out if all your blood work is in order. Or maybe you have high cholesterol. Or maybe your heart rate is too high. Or maybe you have high blood pressure.
Or you can just write down, my blood work is awesome. I'm as fit as I've ever been, right? but write those things down. You may even get into, gee, I want longer hair or gee, I want shorter hair. I want browner hair or redder hair, whatever. Write down the things you want to accomplish, write down the things you see, and then go to the next page with future goals. And that's exactly how you figure out what path you should get on. So be decisive and be honest with yourself.
If you really want to lose 100 pounds, don't write down that you want to lose 30 because you think, oh, that's attainable. If you really have 100 pounds to lose, 100 pounds lost is attainable. It just is. It is. So go be realistic. And this is your own private paperwork, right? This is you talking to yourself. So get as real as humanly possible.
And then let's figure out a way how to get you to those goals so you can be as pleased, as freaking giddy as humanly possible with yourself because nobody else's opinion matters, right? Everybody's got an opinion. None of them matter to me other than my own. So you figure out who you want to be and then decide how you're going to get there. So that's number one. And we will be right back. Are you looking for the perfect gift for a loved one battling cancer?
The Cancer Comeback series by Fitz Kohler offers hope, inspiration, and practical guidance. With your healthy cancer Comeback, My Noisy Cancer Comeback, and The Healthy Cancer Comeback Journal. These books are a lifeline for all patients and survivors. Right now, you can order autographed copies at a special discount. Show your support and help a loved one go from sick to strong. Visit Fitzness.com today. That's F-I-T-Z-N-E-S-S.com. Fitzness.com.
We're back. Next is to get going, right? You got to start taking action. You can't sit there and say, well, these are things I want to do and eventually I'll do them. No, you should get on it now. You should make a plan to take action immediately. Now, some people think, oh, I'm going to lose weight or I want to, be in great shape. I'm too tired to run a marathon tomorrow. Okay. Who cares? Don't run a marathon tomorrow. You shouldn't. That would be weird.
That would be weird. But what you should do is something. Write down these notes and then get up and do something. Walk around the house, walk around the block, walk around your city, do one pushup, four pushups, 12 pushups, whatever it is that challenges you, start doing it immediately. Take immediate action. You can immediately change your eating habits for the better. You don't have to go cold turkey. You don't have to go extreme, but you can start doing better.
And when you start immediately, then you know your progress is going to happen quickly and it will keep coming as long as you stick with your program. So what's your program? Well, my friends, we're going to start with the exact formula. Ha ha, you've heard this before, but this is the formula that teaches you how to eat the right amounts of the right foods for the size that you personally want to be. That's right. I'm not going to give you any sort of generic addition,
some generic number that's suitable for all women or all men. That's crazy. The exact formula will help you achieve your specific ideal weight. And so what do you do? You think about what that ideal weight is. For round numbers, we're just going to say you want to weigh 150 pounds. Great. Put a zero on the end of that number. 1,500 is the amount of calories you should have each day max. And in fact, it's about the amount you should have each day.
You don't want to go too far underneath that either. But 1500 calories is approximately the amount of calories that are required to sustain a person that's 150 pounds. So that's your goal eating budget for each day. I say eating and drinking, any sort of consumption. If you want to weigh 250 pounds, 2,500 calories should be your intake for tomorrow and the next day and the next day. And as long as you want to get to 250 and stay at 250, 2500 calories will be
your designated eating goals. Now, if you are. 500 pounds and you want to weigh 250, okay, well then maybe set a middle range goal. Maybe you start eating 3,750 calories each day until you reach that goal and then you drop your caloric budget. But anyways, all of that is on the cover of fitsness.com. If you go to F-I-T-Z-N-E-S-S.com, right on the cover, that front page, you will see exact formula for weight loss. Click it and you will get a much more thorough explanation, but that's the start
right there. That formula will dictate your size. If you use it, you don't need to get on keto or intermittent fasting, or you don't need to remove all white flour products or any of those radical suffering style diets. They do not promote diets. I'm just, again, teaching you how to eat the right amount of the right food for the size you personally would like to be. So start with the exact formula. The next thing we hit are the four pillars of fitness.
And so if you would like to have a truly fit body, you're going to have to exercise. You can be really thin if that's your goal, just through eating. In fact, you don't have to exercise to be trim. You don't, you could be thin and never exercise. However, you can be thin and still have a heart attack because you're an unhealthy SOB, right? So we want you to be whatever size you want to be and strong with stamina, with flexibility and balance.
And in order to achieve true fitness status, you need to be proficient in all four pillars of fitness. So cardiorespiratory fitness, that's the kind of exercise that makes you huff and puff. It usually includes consistent or rapid motion, walking, running. Swimming, dancing, cycling, cross-country skiing, anything that has you go, go, go and huff and puff. That is cardiorespiratory exercise. That's the kind that will make your heart stronger and your lungs more powerful.
And we want that, right? That's good for longevity and it's great for quality of life. And it allows you to do the things you want to do for an extended period of time because you have stamina. The next pillar is strength. Strength is your ability to push, pull, press, and lift against resistance. That is required total body for you to be fit, right? So you can't just be fit in your biceps and have really, really wimpy glutes.
No, nor can you be one of those squat goddesses who has a really strong glutes and quads and hams, and then your shoulders are super wimpy. You should work on all the muscles to make all the muscles in your body very strong and capable. That makes you more resilient, more resistant to sprains, strains, and tears.
So if you would like to be injury free, if you would like to be a powerful person, if you would like to run faster, if you're a runner, well, strength is going to play a huge factor in all of those things. And I always ask, I'm going to ask again, because I think it's such a great question. On any given day, doing any given thing, would you rather be stronger or weaker? Is there ever a benefit to weakness? No, that's the, that's a simple answer. No. So don't be a weakling,
get strong, work on it. You don't have to be big, bulky, powerful person. I'm not big and bulky. I am powerful, but there's not a lot of mass to my size, but I am strong for me. And that's what I want you to do is be strong for you.
Ladies, if you're, if you are fearing putting on bulk, trust me, you are not at high risk for putting on bulk unless you go gangbusters on protein shakes and nutrition and consuming lots and lots of calories and lifting heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy weights with a very strategic and specific program. If you're not lifting to bulk up, you likely will not bulk up. So instead, know that the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism,
the leaner you will likely be. So the more muscles you have, the more weight you'll lose if weight loss is one of your goals. So strong, strong head to toe. And I say head, that neck of yours, really important. You get in a little fender bender if your neck is strong. And your neck can be made strong by doing a variety of things. Planks will help your neck. Doing crunches. That's why our necks get sore when we do crunches because heads are heavy. What is that kid in Jerry Maguire says?
The human head is about eight pounds. It probably is. Brain and our skull and our hair, it probably is pretty heavy. So every time you lift up while doing a crunch, you're actually working your neck as well. So anything that holds you in a parallel towards the ground position will be working your neck. And if your neck is strong, you'll be less likely to suffer whiplash or herniated discs if you're in a slip or fall or a car accident. So neck strength, important.
Foot strength, important. All of our muscles should be strong. Next is flexibility. And that's our body's ability to reach and twist and go through its full designated range of motion. And so your shoulder, know that it goes in 360 degrees round and round. It should be able to go through a 360 degree circular pattern. If it does not, you should work on that, right? Some stretching bands. If you go to my Instagram account, you can find a video
stretching upper body stretches with bands. Those are magnificent. Your hip will bring your leg in a broad range of motion. So flexibility, it's your ability to reach, twist, and go through your full range of motion without sprains, strains, and tears. And if you, flexibility is the secret to that success. And you should do it throughout each day. Don't just stretch at a stretching class twice a week. Wake up and do some stretches.
When you're working, get up from your computer and stretch. When you let your dogs out to go potty, do some stretches. Before you go to bed, do some stretches. At the beginning and end of your workouts, do some stretches. It doesn't have to be an hour each time to squeeze in some stretching throughout your days. And you will stand up taller. You will feel so much better. It is refreshing and revitalizing to be flexible and stretch regularly.
And then the last pillar of fitness is balance. And balance is important. Why? All together now, so we don't fall down. That's right. If you have terrible balance, you are likely to eat it. And eating it as a grown-up blows. And so what I want you to do is do things that throw you off balance, do things that make you wobble. And so the simplest form is to stand on one foot, Just stand on one foot. See how long you can stand on one foot. If that gets easy, move your arms around.
Flap your arms up and down like a bird. Touch your nose. Do a little hippie hippie shake on that foot. If you can maintain your upright position. If you can, great, it's time to up the ante. Now all of this should be done while being in proximity to maybe a countertop or a wall. something to grab onto in case you really do become way off balance. But standing on one foot with your eyes closed, whoo, that's a great game changer.
And what you'll start to feel the way you know you're being challenged with balance is that you start wobbling, right? You have to squeeze with your feet, your little prehensile toes, like ape toes. That means you're working on your balance. When your ankle starts wobbling in your knees, in your hips, in your core, you start adjusting. That means you are. And unstable. And that's how we gain stability is by challenging our stability.
And I'm going to backtrack a little bit. Balance can be done all throughout the day. Whenever you like, I do balance training. When I brush my teeth, I always do that sitting on one foot. When I'm standing at a checkout counter at the grocery store at a store, I stand on one foot, simple stuff, but I do it. Sometimes I take a couch cushion, throw it on the floor and I stand on that. Sometimes I do that with my eyes closed. Sometimes I lift weights on one foot.
So I do bicep curls standing on one foot. So you can throw balance training throughout your day, all day, and it will make a big difference. If your parents, if you have parents and you're blessed to have parents alive, no matter what their age, encourage them to do the same because one of the greatest risks to our senior population is falls. In fact, my mother, oh my gosh, she keeps falling and it's nightmarish, black eyes, broken noses, broken bones. It's terrifying.
And I asked her, It was probably 30 years ago, I got her a Bozu or 20 years ago, I got her a Bozu and said, please stand on this. Please practice because I don't want you to fall. But yeah, yeah, she didn't do the thing I asked her to do. But ask your parents. Just ask them to stand on one foot while they're brushing their teeth. And hopefully that will prevent them from landing on their face. Hopefully one day that will help you not fall on your face.
So balanced training, you know you're making progress when you're wobbling. Stretching when you wince. When you get to a position and you go. Ooh, and you squint a little bit, that means you're making progress. When you're strength training, when you get to a point where you grunt, that means you're making progress. And with cardio, when you're huffing and puffing, that means you're making progress.
Now, know that there are other episodes of the Fits in a Show, previous episodes dedicated to the four pillars of fitness. You should go back and listen to those for a complete and thorough explanation on how to pursue each pillar of fitness. But I thought I'd mention these today because it's the 200th plus episode. And we're talking about the big picture things that will make a big difference in your life. Next up, prioritize sleep.
It's funny, people think I go, go, go, and I do, but I love sleep so much, and it probably seems contradictory to my brand of exercise and adventure, but my philosophy is bang up each day as much as possible, do as much as I can, do as much thinking and writing and exercise and being outdoors and having as much fun or being as engaged as humanly possible So when my head hits the pillow at 9.30, 10 o'clock at night, I pass right out and I stay asleep.
And so sleep is the reward for all of your efforts, right? If you're just sitting on the couch all day, watching TV, doing nothing special, well, why would you sleep well? Why would you sleep well? You've done nothing to earn quality sleep.
But if you get up and you walk the dogs and you go to work and you have an active day there and you hit the gym and then you wrestle with your kids when you get home and cook a healthy dinner, and then you go out and walk around the neighborhood just to get some more fresh air. Well, when your head hits the pillow, you also will sleep well. So sleep matters. And it's the chicken and the egg type thing. People say, well, I can't exercise because I'm so tired. I don't get enough sleep.
Well, yeah, because you're not exercising. So exercise. If you are exhausted today, what I want you to go out and do is walk for an hour. I want you to tax your body. And then when you're done doing that, get in bed and read. start taxing your mind. And then eventually you will pass out with that book in your hand because your body and your mind have both had enough, right?
And then you will sleep well and you will wake up the next day feeling a little more refreshed, a little energized, and then you're going to go back to it. You're going to say, I have energy. I'm going to use it. I'm going to exercise right away in the morning before I get to work. I'm going to get a great workout in, and maybe I'm going to go do some exercise after work. So again, you get back to sleep. So you have to earn quality sleep.
You should also do things like make your room a haven for rest, silky sheets and a cozy comforter and maybe the fan on or maybe you hate the fan, whatever it is, make your bedroom an oasis for rest. Do the things you need to do to increase the chances you will have quality sleep. Everything in your life will be better because when you are rested, you are less likely to be an a-hole to your partner or spouse. You are more likely to be a lovely parent or grandparent.
You are going to be more patient, more thoughtful, more creative in the office. Everything you do is going to ride on the fact that you had a great sleep and you have a healthy body and you are feeding it wisely and you have a healthy mind. You feel good about you so you can perform. So sleep, sleep well. Okay, next is manage your stress and your self-esteem by removing the cranky people.
If you have toxic jerks who are in your life who do nothing but take from you and make your life worse, remove them. I don't care if they are blood, you need to remove them. It is not okay for you to settle for that garbage. And if you are a parent, I mean it when I say this, do not role model acceptance of being treated like garbage, or your children will grow up and they will allow people to treat them like garbage.
So you got to start by standing up for yourself, whether it's a parent or a sibling or a lover or quote unquote friend or a neighbor, you have to remove those people or completely diminish the amount of access they have to you. You can block them online. You can block them on your phone. You can not answer the door when they knock. You can have a frank conversation and say, hey, we're going to spend less time together and you know why.
And they will know why because they're the ones who's been treating you poorly. So remove the cranky people. However, I'm adding this. I think this is important. If you have wonderful people in your life, lean in, spend more time with them, right? If you have somebody who makes you laugh, laugh, laugh, or someone who's sweet and generous and kind and thoughtful, well, make a date, right? Make a girl's lunch date or a guy's golf, disc golf date, whatever.
Go do something with these new people who treat you so well. Or if it's your family and they're wonderful, get more family time. But yeah, remove the cranky people, lean into the great people, and then also know how to spend time alone. Know how to be comfortable with just you, right? The me, myself, and I thing. You should be able to have quiet time in your own mind.
In your backyard or in your bathtub or just in your house, spending the day alone, not answering your phone or going out to lunch or going to a movie alone. Oh my gosh, going to a movie alone. You should be able to do that because you're a pretty awesome person. You don't need anybody else. I think that's great for your confidence is to know you are just fine and dandy all by yourself. Game changer, game changer for your confidence in the way you live your life.
You If you can stand on your own two feet and be in your own space. So move the cranky, lean into the good, lean into yourself. Okay. Pursue adventure and joy. Life is short. Life is short. You don't need a cancer diagnosis. You don't need MS. You don't need a broken armpit. You don't need a third elbow installed on your arm. What you need is to choose things that you know are likely to make you happy and pursue them. Right? Go have some freaking fun.
I get it. I get it. Life's hard. The economy sucks right now. There's not a lot of money to go around for many of us. For some people, there is. Good for you. But you should still go do things that are super fabulous. Find things that are free and fabulous. A arts and crafts festival to just go walk around. The beach is free. The mountains are free. Playing bat gaming or chess or crime, and Cards Against Humanity, that's all free.
So find free things and do them. And then if you got some money or you'd like to do something, get yourself the piggy bank and start putting money in. And that's gonna be your adventure, Chug. So maybe your adventure is to go compete in an Ironman triathlon. I think they're about a thousand bucks to participate, to register for. Okay, do that. Or maybe you're just gonna put 200 in a jug to go skydive, if that's your jam, or 50 in the jug to go zip lining.
So whatever it is, plan for it and inch your way towards it, but plan for adventure, plan for joy. It's funny, I have people who I know are gonna make me laugh, but there's just a few of them where I can call and it's instant giggles. And sometimes I'm in a crap mood. My best friend, Christy from childhood. It's crazy the bad things she and I have been through and I FaceTime her.
And no matter what horrible, terrible, awful thing is going on in our life, the second we see each other, it's pure joy. It just shoots out of our faces into each other. Remember Wonder Twins where they touched and the lights would go between each other's fingers and they'd say, Wonder Twins, activate. And they were something interesting. Well, she and I, we lock eyes and then it's giggles. It's giggles. And even over the crowd, we just make each other happy.
So find things that make you not be and lean into them. You have to do that because again, life is short and I don't need to be that beat that one to death. I could, but I won't go find something fabulous and expose yourself to it. Get involved. All right. Next up, celebrate every accomplishment. Golly, you know, Lori Weiner, she is one of my hotties. If you're not on the Hottie Body Fitness Challenge Facebook group, that's my group.
It's free to be a part of where I guide everyone there towards fitness and everyone. Golly, the most supportive group of humans on earth are there. But Lori Weiner, she's a physical therapy assistant in Ohio, and she's married to Peter who's lost about 100 pounds using the exact formula for weight loss. I think Lori's lost about 40 pounds, but she just had a knee replacement and And a little beast that she is, she's been inching, inching, inching post-surgery.
Now I'm up walking. I'm up walking around the house. I walked to the mailbox today. And every day she posts a picture of something new and fabulous she's done with this new knee of hers. I can bend my knee 30 degrees. I can bend my knee 50 degrees. And she's celebrating. And today she did a 5K, her first since her knee surgery. And she celebrates that. She did it in a funny costume too, which was fantastic.
It's Halloween time. I'm good for her, but I just love that she's taking joy because so many people would say, uh, I used to run marathons, which Lori did. Lori ran ultra marathons. Now I can only walk one mile. And who, why, why be that person? Why be so freaking miserable? Yeah. We're all going to have a setback sometimes. I didn't like by being knocked on my can from cancer. Trust me. I was way down in the gutter. There was, I was in a ditchy ditch. I was in a ditch, in a ditch, in a ditch.
I lost so much of everything I could do in that deep down, dark, ugly ditch. But as I started creeping back, I thought, hooray, I get one itsy bitsy win, right? So Lori is celebrating each. So you should be the person who celebrates. Hey, I got to the gym three nights in a row this week. Hooray for me. I walked seven miles with my dog this week. Hooray. I stuck with the exact formula for weight loss today.
Hooray. you should feel proud of yourself. And that's the type of thing that gives you the motivation to keep going. And you know what changes your life? When you keep going in the right direction, right? It's discipline. And I think it was four or five episodes ago, I just did a podcast called Motivation Versus Discipline. But you may be listening to me right now thinking, you know what, Fitz, you're right.
I'm going to do a self-assessment and I'm going to make a plan and I'm going to do the four pillars and I'm going to be on using the exact formula and I'm going to do it, do it, do it. Okay. But then what happens three days from now? You might not be motivated anymore. You might not have my big fat voice barking in your ear when the motivation wanes. Okay. Well, screw motivation. Motivation is useless or irrelevant if you were disciplined, right?
Because what you're doing right now is you're going to make your assessment and then you're going to make your freaking plan. That plan is going to be specific. You're going to know what your caloric budget looks like each day, and then you're going to figure out what kind of exercises you're going to do, and then you're going to do them. You're going to do them if it's raining.
You're going to do it if it's snowing. If there's a hurricane in the area, you're going to do it if you're getting a divorce or if you had a bad day at work or if it's Christmas time. It's discipline. You just keep going, keep going. That's the secret. To success in fitness and business and relationships. It's to keep going in the right direction, right? I'm steering you in the right direction. You just have to keep going. And having said that, I am happy to be in your ear round the clock.
That's one of the things I really want to be is you get the little fitzy, right? Your little mini fitzy, and then put me on your shoulder and take me with you? And when you think about going home after work instead of going to your workout class, what would Fitz say? What would that little annoying pain in the ass Fitzy say? Well, she would say, go to your class, right? Or she'd call you a slacker. She'd say, hey, slacker, you made a plan. You got to stick with it.
Get up and get going, right? So you just got to take me with you and I'm happy to go. I love going to all the places with you. I think that really enhances my life when somebody reaches out and says, oh my gosh, I took you with me. I took you to the stadium and we climbed steps together. Thank you for being in my era. That makes me feel like I climbed the stadiums with you.
Also, if you want a more thorough version of this, my Fixing Your Life with Fitsness course, it was $299 as of about three months ago. I found a new platform that was way less expensive to host the course. It's now only 29 bucks. So highly recommend that. And yeah, that's all the answers. That's 100% of the answers are in that course. But yeah, 200 episodes. I'm so grateful that you have let me into your ear, into your car, into your life.
And I hope that all my yammering has made your life better. Right? I am the chief yammering officer of fitness. I'm all the things. Actually, my dog Piper is my vice president, but yeah, chief yammering officer and, I hope you're willing to take action. You know, sometimes people hear what I say and they agree. They nod their head and they say, yeah, Fitz, that makes sense. And then they take no action. It's just such a disappointment to see people in the same boat they were in four years ago.
They've been listening to the show, listening to the formula, and they just never do it. Right? They just never do it. And they never stop drinking or they never stop smoking. I hope you're not one of those people because the other percentage of the people, They're large percent. They listen because everything I say is based in science and they go, okay, that makes sense. And she's not charging me any money. She just gave me all this expert fitness advice for free.
And you know what? I'm going to take action and I'm going to find success. And you should, you should be that portion of the listeners. I think it would be better. In fact, I would like to bat a thousand. I would like to bat a thousand. I don't know. we'd need a psychiatrist here to figure out what convinces people to take action on their own behalf and what people just choose not to. They choose to settle. Don't be a settler. You're better than that. You are better than that.
I don't think you'd be listening to my show if you were happy settling for less. And I certainly wouldn't be happy for you if you settled for you. So let's go. Let's go do this, right? Okay. So there's three things I have to get out before I end the show. Number one, thank you to all the Brazilians that are now listening. I have this huge jump in listeners from Brazil as the episode dashboards statistics
tell me Brazil is now my number two country of listenership and I love it. So hello, Brazilians. I'm going to learn some Portuguese just for you. I'm going to figure some out. But in the meantime, hello, Brazilians. Okay, number two, we're talking about our communication tip of the week. And communicating is a big deal. We do that with our writing and with our mouth and with our body language. But today, I want all of my Americans to communicate at the ballot box. Remember, people have died.
Tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of Americans, fine American patriots have died for the privilege to vote. And so do it. Do it. Do not take this privilege for granted. It's just unacceptable. So go out and vote. Of course, I want you all to vote exactly how I vote, but you don't know how I vote. I mean, you may have a hunch or two, but I don't care.
We all get one vote. I want you to vote in the way that you believe, not only the presidential election, but down ballot, those races matter. The city elections really matter to your community. I actually have been using 411vote.org. I think if you just search 411 vote, it gives you a synopsis of the ballots in your town. You poke in your home address and it'll tell you what you're going to see on
your ballot. And then it gives you the synopsis and it'll say people who support this bill are blank. And this is what they say in the opposition. These are the people in the groups who oppose this bill. And this is why. And so it just was really handy dandy for me. I'm a well-informed voter, but sometimes the ballots are pretty detailed and we all need a little help. But yeah, communicate with your vote. Don't be that person because really, I don't know.
I think it's unpatriotic and unappreciative for all of those who work so hard to preserve our freedoms. So do it, do it. And then, because I can't not do this, your little patriotic flag waving American right here. My favorite time of year is election time. I'm so excited.
But my song of the week that I want you to actually add to your workouts, whether you're dancing or you are climbing ropes or rock climbing indoors or outdoors, or just doing some yoga on a mountain or by the beach or in your living room. I want you to listen to Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA. God bless the USA. It's as good as it gets, right? The perfect song for election season. So thank you. Thank you for listening to me now.
Thank you for listening to the 200 plus episodes I've already recorded. And I hope you stick around and. Yeah. Thank you. I love you so much. Get to work. Hi, this is Rudy Novotny, the voice of America's marathons. We all love how much running has benefited every aspect of our lives, so much so that most of us only wish we'd started sooner. Wouldn't it be wonderful to give the opportunity to children of today? Well, you can.
The Morning Mile is a before-school walking and running program that gives children a chance to start each day in an active way while enjoying fun, music, and friends. That's every child, every day. It's also supported by a wonderful system of rewards which keeps students highly motivated and frequently congratulated.
Created by our favorite fitness expert, Fitz Kohler, Morning Milers across the country have run over 2 million miles and are having greater success with academics, behavior, and sports because of it. The Morning Mile is free to the child, free to the school, and is inexpensively funded by businesses or generous individuals. Help more kids get moving in the morning by visiting morningmile.com.
Champion the program at your favorite school or find out more about sponsorship opportunities that's morningmile.com long may you run.